1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fish cleaning devices and more specifically it relates to a fish cleaning system for efficiently cleaning various sizes of fish.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fish filleting tables have been in use for years. Typically, cleaning fish has consisted of holding a fish down with a hand on a large, cumbersome flat surface where the fish was filleted with a knife and each portion of the fish had to be separated into edible, retained portions, and non-edible discarded parts.
The problems associated with this previous system for cleaning fish were many-fold. The fish were generally cleaned on a glossy surface, which increased the chances of the fish moving, the knife slipping, and consequently the person filleting the fish cut themselves with the filleting knife.
Another problem was holding the fish in place for filleting with the filleter's hand, which was generally placed over the fish's head since that is a portion that is not necessary to do any cutting to fillet a fish. This practice made it easier for a live fish to move as well, but also made it difficult to secure the fish, especially when handling game fish such as walleye, which have very sharp cheekbones and gills that are capable of lacerating a person's hand.
Another problem was trying to keep straight which portions of the fish were destined for which storage container. Many times the person filleting the fish would place an inedible portion of the fish into the edible portion container. This does not make the edible portion of the fish inedible, but it makes cleanup more difficult and time consuming.
A final problem was the large size and difficulty of washing off these cleaning tables. They were often large, cumbersome and infeasible to be transported efficiently. This problem was generally encountered on fishing vacations when fisherman generally like to fillet fish either on a shore of the lake, where they can then prepare the fish for a “shore lunch,” or back at camp when they returned from a day's fishing.
Because of the large size of boards used to clean fish, effective and efficient cleansing and subsequent transportation of the boards was not plausible; separate cleaning tables were usually required at the dwelling and mounted on a boat in some way, shape or fashion if the fisherman planned to have a “shore lunch” during the day.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for efficiently cleaning various sizes of fish. Conventional fish cleaning devices are sometimes difficult to utilize and sometimes are not capable of handling various sizes of fish.
In these respects, the fish cleaning system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of efficiently cleaning various sizes of fish.